Alright Cinemaphile, I know there are some industry insiders here.
Recently I've been thinking since I love animation as a medium, I should consider working within the industry in some form.
Trouble is, I have no real skills towards this goal whatsoever. I can't draw and I can't write, and I don't have time to learn to do either on a competent enough basis, so that rules out those areas.
But I think I might enjoy it regardless. So what other roles and jobs are there within an animation studio, which might actually be feasible for someone with little experience to go into and have some success? Even if it's not directly involved with the end product itself like a talent scout for example?
I'm willing to learn and put time towards the goal, I don't expect instant results either. But what are some areas you think would actually be feasible here?
I'm asking seriously, I don't expect it to be easy either but thought maybe you anons would have some ideas towards this with real world knowledge as opposed to what I find on Google. Plz help
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Maybe as an production assistant
thanks, I'll definitely look into this as it's not something I even considered
Everything will be replaced with AI shit so work on something with that
shit i hate AI shit
If Wish is anything to go by, it’ll be outlawed in 5 years.
think again
why so?
That theatrical Veggietales movie from 2002 about Jonah has a very catchy theme song.
?si=h13KUdCSHXK8Ql_s
veggietales has some good moments
pretty sure animation industry blacklists you if they see you posting here
kek
I think there are more than a few industry artists who post here now, no? Cinemaphile is very popular
>blacklists you
once again, Cinemaphile thinks that you can get blacklisted for the dumbest shit.
The animation industry has stories circulating about John K that are really about me when I was a teenager. They have a lot of manchildren and manchildren are really stupid
There's a lot of them, they just often have nothing interesting to contribute cuz they're nepo hires
You say that but considering that the big studios are run by the Hollywood tumblrshitter calis I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss it.
>the big studios are run by the hollywood tumblrshitter calis
you guys just make shitup in your heads haha, no old hollywood israelites were on tumblr.
>you can get blacklisted for the dumbest shit.
>blacklist
>studios are run by the hollywood tumblrshitter calis
These people are cowards anon, do not be afraid. They depend on keeping you and other artists scared. These people have panic attacks when you confront them; try it! They NEED young artists to be afraid so them and their friends stay on top.
If you were to give away your name and company you work, sure, but how would they know if you are properly anonymous and kept things vague?
Honestly even if you posted those things they're unlikely to do anything unless you posted them along with something explicitly racist or something
>blacklist
that just sounds so Gaslighty
If you’re serious Alex hirsch openly posted on here during S2 of gravity falls
The industry is about nepotism and politics, not skills
That's any industry though, right?
Thanks.
Isn't 2-3 years a very short time to get good at animation though? I feel like most I see have been drawing since childhood. I don't draw at all.
I did consider CG animation for this purpose, I wonder if it's perhaps easier to start with when I have no base.
With writing, I dunno again, I could write every day but there's no measure of any actual improvement there. With art it's easier to see. With writing, I don't know if I'm getting good, and I don't read enough as is to expand my knowledge in that regard.
Editing, audio mixing, composing and colour correcting are all good ideas, thank you. See, I'll be honest, my knowledge of all this isn't that strong yet. I don't completely know how an animation is even put together despite knowing the roles. So I don't know which ones are actually feasible to work towards in a somewhat short time. I do think 2-3 years for animation is a big push.
That's what I told myself in 2018. I could barely draw stick figured/DeviantArt zombie looking creatures but now I can draw full characters. You need to just draw a bunch of shitty drawings. They are going to look like fricking ASS at first. But eventually you'll start to figure out how to tie things together. My best tip to you is, to paraphrase the great Yakko Warner, "love drawing naked people." Drawing bodies is the the only way you're gonna get good at drawing, and subsequently, about a year later, animation should get easier. 3 years was all it took for me. It's just practice man. The books and docs will do less for you than just trying. It's all you can do. Try drawing your favorite characters first, see what shapes form them, how their body parts line up and attach in different poses.
Editing also works for live action and is a great way to do general industry stuff, which can get you onto animated programs. Also, just being a writer like I said is a good path. Writing is also like animation though, takes many tries and drafts to get a good script. Again, it's at least 3 years of grueling work and feeling like you suck balls.
You seem like a positive person, so I wish you the best. It is doable, anon. You can do it.
Sorry about that anon, you are literally THE exception. That being said, it might still be possible. Your hand may just be a bit unreliable.
Thank you anon.
Do you do any work in an animation related setting now, even if it's just youtube projects?
It's a bit weird to me hearing all this, because if I'm honest I never considered I'd be able to get good at animation itself, so it wasn't even something I had on the table when approaching this.
And because I thought it wasn't really possibe, I kind of put out the idea in my head that it's something I even want to do, so now hearing this is giving me a lot of pause. I don' know if I even want to be an animator per se anymore.
My only problem is I don't reckon I have a lot of time. I know you can't rush results, but I also want to be at a stage where I can get an entry level job in this kind of field fairly quickly. I'm late 20's/early 30's so can't afford to sort of screw around anymore.
I find writing much much harder to see a way through. I never have any ideas for stories, even off media I like, my brain never really works in a way to think, oh what if there was a spin off in X direction.
But disregarding that, I just don't see how you gauge improvement when it comes to writing. I can keep doing it but how on earth can you tell your writing is improving? This, like animation, is something I kind of saw as unfeasible so put out of my head.
>Editing also works for live action
Editing in what sense? Sorry, just not sure.
Thanks for the kind words, I appreciate it as well as the tips and discussion.
I'm also still curious on wider roles in an animation project.
When I look at the credits, even HR departments get mentioned for example. I know something like that is far from the actual production, but honestly I'm not even opposed to it which is why I just wonder what roles are there involved in an animated studio. To be clear my goal isn't just name on credits woohoo, but I think I would have more fun being part of an animated production than other areas of work.
>Isn't 2-3 years a very short time to get good at animation though?
Do you mean animation or drawing?
Japanese animators learn to draw from zero to "anime industry ready" in less than 2 years and they learn animation principles in less than 1 month, some learn it in a single week so it's doable but you have to draw all day everyday and you're probably better off in a vocational school than teaching yourself with books+videos
>Japanese animators learn to draw from zero to "anime industry ready" in less than 2 years and they learn animation principles in less than 1 month, some learn it in a single week
source?
Just literally draw every day and write everyday. You (after about 2-3 years) will be fine. People who say they can't do it are just easy to doubt themselves and give up. Take figure drawing classes. Open Pencil2D or Blender (both free!), look at YouTube and watch tutorials, look at the compositions of your favorite shows and movies. If you don't like the animation part, buy some editing software and learn how to edit, audio mix, compose, color correct, etc. Just start trying shit.
> literally draw every day and you will be fine
> born with bad fine motor skills
Even if I did write every day which I do to some degree, the odds of me getting a good contract without nepotism, and or big bucks is literally 50-1. I know that yes, doing the work over and over will make me better at it, but even if I were to make something good out of my dogshit writing, what are even the odds of getting through?
The animation industry sucks and you should not be there unless you really, REALLY want to be there. You have to live in really expensive places, there is no job security, it is often thankless, relatively low-paying, and hyper-competitive in spite of all of this.
I'm not in the US if that helps.
As for the industry sucking, won't I kind of hear that regardless of the industry I ask about?
In terms of being thankless, tbh recently I've been watching animated media and by the end of it, when the credits come up, I've sort of just had this feeling that it'd be nice to be on there. That's not my end goal, just to make it on a credits list, but it does make me think maybe I should focus on this now.
If it's hyper competitive then I might not have a chance because both my experience and skills are basically 0.
It's why I was looking at roles that would perhaps be easier to get into on a base level as sugestions
see if you can color by taking some black and white prop sheets from google images by opening them up in photoshop (or photopea if you're poor but it's basically the same thing for free) then just wait for a position to open up (you can check the animation job spreadsheet for this it's literally the first result on google). I genuienly think coloring is the easiest thing you can do because it's literally just adapting to the shows style and making designs fit in a scene, the most hardest thing you'll probably have to do is use texture brushes or shade shit but even then the designers usually put lines in to indicate where shading goes. Of course you're actually gonna wanna make a portfolio of work before sending applications, and some studios actually let you send in your info regardless of if they're applying or not so they can contact you later if you think you're a good fit so it's a good idea to check if that's an option or not.
Thank you for the tips, I really appreciate it.
If I get into colouring, could that lead to some other stuff down the line, or am I kind of stuck on one route there?
As I said, I don't necessarily have to be involved in the actual creation of the media, even working in the background I think I might be happy with, but it still needs to be something easily accessible since I don't have the kind of time to just dick around now.
In honesty, I am quite shit at shading. Even though I don't draw often, I remember when I did for art in school or whatever, I never could get shading right and would just throw it in randomly. Outside of that, what else would colouring entail? Just using the brush tool in Photoshop? On some of the examples you've shared, it doesn't look much more complex than the paint bucket kek
What you've described does sound easy though, almost a little too easy. Surely it's not just effectively filling in a colouring book?
It really depends on how complicated the design is. You might get assigned a bunch of easy stuff like the previous example or you might get assigned something a little more difficult like pic related. But besides just coloring stuff you're gonna need to make sure the color fits the scene (it could be day, night, eveneing or whatever or maybe the scene is dramatic so use a specific pallete) Besides that I would say get used to the gradient and glow tool since some designs use that and also get used to changing opacity (if something is in a container, bag, or whatever, you might have to take the color of the container and overlay it on the object with a lower opacity to make it look like it's actually inside). It is easy but you will effectively be spending hours coloring hundreds of sheets for multiple episodes. If you do get good at coloring though, you could move on to background painting
(cont) of course if you actually want to get into coloring, the best way to effectively do that besides coloring stuff yourself would be to learn about color as much as you can and study how things are actually colored by color designers in animation, looking at sheets already colored by color designers and posted online is a good way to do this
what's this from?
Did some research, its from craig of the creek. Season 4 and beyond I think though I've never watched the whole thing.
oh, thanks. It looked like it was emulating an eastern style which is why I wondered
Thanks, I appreciate this a lot.
I'll be honest, I do struggle with colour with regards to this. It's not been one of my strong suits at all when it comes to interpreting animation. Colour eludes me and colouring something from scratch does sound a bit daunting. I'd still struggle with the shading I think.
I just wonder how much time it would realistically take to get to a level that's actually going to be industry suitable. Learning a lot of colour theory sounds difficult for someone who has little understanding of it and never even considered it before. Not sure how much I can "get through" my skull.
But that said it's definitely something to look into and I really appreciate the tips. Thanks a bunch anon.
Not really sure anon should get into colour cause it doesn't pay well and I'm pretty sure I heard somewhere that AI is replacing a lot of colour positions. Maybe as a side thing but I'd find something else in the industry to work for.
Also, just as a warning, easier jobs have more competition. The higher your skill level the less competition and more job security you have.
Eh, I say color is still something worth persuing right now at least. Disney was just hiring color designers for the phineas and ferb continuation a couple months ago. I only suggested it because anon asked for something easy and it is one of the easiest positions I can think of that doesn't involve drawing
good thread, also interested
thanks
honestly i never ever considered working in animation until recently
I always just saw it as a hobby, but then I never really knew what to do career wise either. I do have a love for animation even if my knowledge isn't strong, and that's more than I can say for some other fields. So I figure maybe it's worth a shot pursuing this in some form.
Hence the need for ideas.
Thanks for the heads up on that. I guess AI is a real concern in that department. If it would take me 2-3 years to learn, there's a strong possibility that by that point AI will be much stronger and used far more within lower budget productions, which is likely where I'd have to start off.
Something to think about for sure
What job(s) are you interested in? Might be able to give some advice.
Colour shouldn't take that long to learn. If you study a lot you should have it down in under a year maybe even somewhere around 6 months or less.
im in the same boat of OP where id be fine with any type of job/role, but i am starting to work on and learn drawing which may possibly broaden it a bit eventually
>If you study a lot you should have it down in under a year maybe even somewhere around 6 months or less.
Do you think it's something you have to have a bit of a natural knack for, or you can learn it just fine? My brain doesn't feel wired that way currently.
I am open to many things. I do wonder if being part of the creative process would be best for me. I've never seen myself as all that creative, which I know is something that gets dismissed as a fallacy but I just don't seem to have those sorts of ideas.
I wonder if there are other roles that are sort of easy/easier to get into where you still feel part of the process even if you don't have a role in the actual creative side.
/ic/ might have more people actually in the industry
I would bet good money that there are more industry workers in /dig/ than /ic/
/dig/?
Now, if you make sure you have no talent either, you could probably get a netflix pitch. Say you're some kind of minority? The world is yours for the taking, baby! Movies, comics, videogames, RPG! Just kick the door open.
Whatever you do, don't waste your time/money going to art college.
I got into the industry being entirely self-taught.
>I don't have time to learn to do either
>I'm willing to learn and put time towards the goal
So which is it?
Sorry if it was unclear
My conception was that learning animation would take a good 4 or 5 years just to get to a basic standard. I don't have that kind of time, i kind of need to find work soonish so I can begin climbing that ladder.
Animation.
But honestly maybe even drawing would be cool.
But I have a lot to think about and even if I want to draw or animate at this point. Because for so long, I thought it was kind of impossible so I kind of put the idea away entirely and began focusing on other things. Now I'm not sure I even would want to be an animator.
I think I honestly wouldn't mind that, but I'm not sure where the starting point would even be to begin working up the corporate ladder? As long as it's not a soulless husk ladder.
Starting my own studio, I feel like I might be half decent at some of the things there, I even did some talent scouting for a while so it's not impossible maybe, but you know, the whole 0 funding and 0 experience thing. Plus it's likely far harder than I'd anticipate.
how do you feel about business management? you could always work your way-up the corporate ladder and influence things as you go, or even start your own studio provided you have the funding, talent, marketing, etc. etc. to make it.